Bhel sees order boom in the East

The regional unit has recently bid for Neepco's 60Mw Monarchak gas-based power plant in north-eastern India.

It recently bagged the order for rehabilitating the Bihar State Electricity Board 500 megawatt (Mw) power plant at Muzzafurpur. which has been lying closed for many years now.

"This year the eastern division has clocked a Rs 375 crore over and is expecting a Rs 65 crore profit, which next year is expected to be in the range of Rs 200 crore," said Bhel officials.

Bhel is competing with Japanese power equipment major Mitsubishi for erecting the gas-based power plant in Assam and has bid for the project last week. The 60 Mw power plant would was estimated to cost Rs 60 crore.

The rehabilitation and maintenance project bagged by Bhel from BSEB was valued at Rs 500 crore and envisages revival of the plant so that it could generate power efficiently.

"Bhel received the order because it had originally installed it and so was best suited for the job," Bhel officials said.

Bhel recently lost the order for the West Bengal Power Development Corporation-promoted, 2X250 Mw, Sagardighi project to China based Dong Fang.

However, Bhel bagged a Rs 1,464 crore order from Bhilai Electric Supply (BEC), a joint venture of NTPC and SAIL, for two units of 250 Mw each at Bhilai thermal power project in Chattisgarh, though Dong had also bid for it.

"BEC placed the order for equipment supply last week," said Bhel officials.

Bhel does major fabrication and repair work in eastern India as well as at its Varanasi workshop.

Bhel's scope of work in the contract envisages design, manufacture, supply and commissioning of the main plan package including balance of plant and civil works on turnkey basis.

The turbine generators and boilers would be built at Bhel's Haridwar and Trichy plants while the controls and instrumentation system would be supplied by the Bangalore-based electronics division.

The Bhilai order is part of Bhel's order book which now stands at Rs 31,800 crore.

Bhel secured orders totaling Rs 18,016 crore from domestic and overseas markets during the financial year ending March 31, 2005.

The Hyderabad unit would manufacture the boiler feed pumps and Bhopal and Jhansi units would supply electricals and switchyard equipment.